I didn't want to take a year off before law school, but it is what I was forced to do financially and academically.

I decided to take the LSAT one last time in June. I ended up scoring significantly better and had to think long and hard about sitting a year out.

What made the decision a little easier was the money. I have secured a decent-paying full time job, as well as a part-time job at a golf course on the weekends. I live with my parents, which is weird after living away from home for four years, but it saves me probably $800/month.

I turned in all my applications right at the start of the cycle this year and the difference is amazing. Schools that waitlisted me are now accepting me; schools that accepted me with no money are now giving me partial scholarships; schools that gave me partial scholarships are offering almost full rides. To make the situation better, I will have a lot of money saved up so I'm not dirt poor in law school.

It was a tough decision, but a good one. It all depends on your situation; but if you feel like you can significantly improve your LSAT score in February or June, sit out a year and start looking for a job.

I honestly don't know how/why anyone would go straight from undergrad without working in the real world for a while first. I worked at a law firm because I wasn't sure if I actually wanted to be a lawyer, and then spent a year teaching English in France because it was something I had always wanted to do.

Take some time off, get a job or do something you've always wanted to do. You won't regret it.

Juuuulie wrote:I'm 39 and am going back to school after being widowed and making Vice-President at my company.

I'm dubbing it the Great Reboot. And I'm going into public interest law, so I'm even crazier.

You. RULE.

When it comes to insane decisions, I definitely do!

Awesome

3+ years 'off' here as of next fall. I think that people going straight through are crazy unless they've had some pretty profound experience(s) during UG... A little time off gives you a lot of perspective on what you may want to do and why you want to do it (i.e. Do I really want to go to LS? Why? Am I okay with that much debt? Where do I want to practice? Do I want to give up those 3 years of my life in my 20's? Is there something else I'd be happy doing? etc etc). It also gives you some time to make some $, travel, and have fun! I lived and worked abroad for part of my 'time off' and had the time of my life. (Real work though I guess, not random- on staff at Oxford U).

Find a job or internship that you think you'd enjoy and/or that's law-related and when you're not working, have fun fun funnnn because we're in our prime!

FWIW: Three years ago I would never in my wildest dreams have thought that I'd currently be applying to law school.

I'll be at 10 years between undergrad and law school next fall. As with the other non-trads, this decision wasn't made frivolously. I went straight from undergrad to a masters program and definitely felt the burn out.

As others have stated, taking time off, as long as your time is spent productively, is never a bad thing. I'm looking forward to going into Contracts having signed many mortgage documents.

krad wrote:FWIW: Three years ago I would never in my wildest dreams have thought that I'd currently be applying to law school.

Same here. I was looking into going into pharmacy. I knew I wanted to go back to school, but I wanted it to be in a health-care-related field. That morphed into health law, which morphed into public interest with an emphasis on health law. In other words, broke!

I was kind of forced into a year off that became two years off before applying this year. Long story, blah blah.

My first full-time office job not being career-track has been a godsend. I get to make all the stupid newb mistakes you make without any of the consequences, and I'm building skills for the future while I learn.

Also, I'd imagine having references within the business community you want to work can only help with future prospects (unless you suck at your job, I guess.)

So, while I didn't WANT to take the time off, I'm really glad life made me faceplant. Otherwise I would never have retaken the LSAT, had a better start to my cycle, and grown up.

I just turned 34, was married for 10 years & had 3 beautiful children. I completed my undergrad and graduate degrees and just got burned out in my field. I thought about law school before completing my master's degree and that thought hasn't left me, so I figured I would pursue it.

I figure over 10 years work experience in my chosen field plus the fact that I've been working full-time since I was 15 (including 50-70+ hours per week during both my undergrad and graduate degrees) has only helped me.

I am 37 graduated from college in december of 1996. I have run my own business for the last 10 years and in the last year decided to get divorced and apply to law school. I am glad to be my age and having experienced everything I have in the last 14 years.

I graduated at 20 and decided to take two years off to work with the Peace Corps. I took the LSAT during my service. After that I took another year off to live with my parents, save up some money and travel to some countries I wanted to visit before the prospect of debt came into the picture (had a full-ride undergrad). I feel like getting more experience and maturing a bit was in every way the right decision regardless of the ups and downs - of which there were many.

Find something worthwhile and do it. Do something you want/love to do before you have to channel your passion into a niche prefabricated by the "real world."

It's very simple why I'm not taking time off. Nearly everything I would want to do correlates with the law or I would benefit from having a law degree. My friends told me close your eyes, can you imagine yourself as anything else but a lawyer? I couldn't. That's when everyone told me to go. As far as taking time off goes...I could've graduated a semester early, but didn't. I have a few more credits to finish a minor. I'll be doing a lot of traveling, and my graduation gift is either a car or the trip throughout Europe I always wanted. I'm obviously choosing the latter. There's really nothing I'd want to work in right now...and I don't feel that I need to go out and find myself or anything like that. Some of your stories are amazing, but I think the person going to law school straight from undergrad is certainly less crazy than the person going after taking 7 plus years off to work..especially if they have a good job going.

Non-Chalant1 wrote:It's very simple why I'm not taking time off. Nearly everything I would want to do correlates with the law or I would benefit from having a law degree. My friends told me close your eyes, can you imagine yourself as anything else but a lawyer? I couldn't. That's when everyone told me to go. As far as taking time off goes...I could've graduated a semester early, but didn't. I have a few more credits to finish a minor. I'll be doing a lot of traveling, and my graduation gift is either a car or the trip throughout Europe I always wanted. I'm obviously choosing the latter. There's really nothing I'd want to work in right now...and I don't feel that I need to go out and find myself or anything like that. Some of your stories are amazing, but I think the person going to law school straight from undergrad is certainly less crazy than the person going after taking 7 plus years off to work..especially if they have a good job going.

I was going to write something snarky, like, "did you write your PS about intellectual curiosity?" I guess I just did actually. Something about this attitude depresses me. It's a bit self-entitled and a bit naive I guess. The idea that someone literally could not imagine themselves being anything other than a lawyer is really kind of weird. But in a more selfish vein, I'm certainly hoping the majority of my classmates bring some unique experiences and perspectives to the table. You seem content though, good luck with the cycle.

I took a lot of time off, and in fact in my case I didn't even get interested in law except through work experience I had. Thus my situation is probably different than what you are asking about, but it is the case I took considerable time off (8 years). I think I would have had a harder time with law school if I had tried to do it when I was younger.

Non-Chalant1 wrote:It's very simple why I'm not taking time off. Nearly everything I would want to do correlates with the law or I would benefit from having a law degree. My friends told me close your eyes, can you imagine yourself as anything else but a lawyer? I couldn't. That's when everyone told me to go. As far as taking time off goes...I could've graduated a semester early, but didn't. I have a few more credits to finish a minor. I'll be doing a lot of traveling, and my graduation gift is either a car or the trip throughout Europe I always wanted. I'm obviously choosing the latter. There's really nothing I'd want to work in right now...and I don't feel that I need to go out and find myself or anything like that. Some of your stories are amazing, but I think the person going to law school straight from undergrad is certainly less crazy than the person going after taking 7 plus years off to work..especially if they have a good job going.

I was going to write something snarky, like, "did you write your PS about intellectual curiosity?" I guess I just did actually. Something about this attitude depresses me. It's a bit self-entitled and a bit naive I guess. The idea that someone literally could not imagine themselves being anything other than a lawyer is really kind of weird. But in a more selfish vein, I'm certainly hoping the majority of my classmates bring some unique experiences and perspectives to the table. You seem content though, good luck with the cycle.

The only thing depressing is your attitude. Believe it or not, some people don't need to go spend 5 years to find out who they are supposed to be and what they want to do. You don't even have any idea what I want to do with law and what my background is. You don't know the research I've done and the internships I've had. You don't even know what country my parents immigrated from. Yet, you assume that everybody at 21 is some kid with minimal life experience that doesn't quite know what he or she wants to do yet. I won't make any assumptions about you like you made about me, but quite frankly people like you are why I don't want to go to law school at times and are why when I'm there the people I chill with probably won't be IN law school. A bunch of people who take themselves too seriously and think that they're all incredible. Let's just say my background up until this point has a lot to it. And, no, the idea that someone could not imagine themselves being something other than a lawyer is not weird if you know what your goals are, and what you plan to do with law. A lot of people in my circle are similar. Many others decided that they were only going because they felt they should and they're no longer applying. They're doing marketing, starting fashion design companies, and working for human rights groups. We're very similar. I'm not like 95% of the people who go to law school just for the 160K salary and corporate law...that would be a lot more weird if that's all I could imagine myself as. Randomly working or two years is as generic as those "intellectual curiosity" claims. Get off of TLS, and don't attempt to disparage and give snarky remarks to someone you don't know.

ahduth wrote:It's a bit self-entitled and a bit naive . . . that someone literally could not imagine . . . being anything other than a lawyer[.]

+1

Read my above post, it obviously applies to you too. But no one on here is ever going to call me self-entitled or naive. Again people like you guys are why I sometimes hate law school people. I read all these great stories by people in here and made one comment and you're calling me self-entitled? That just sounds stupid. What part of wanting to be a lawyer is self-entitled? Everyone isn't like you people. Thank goodness most of my inner-circle isn't. I hang with law school students all the time and have since I was a freshmen in undergrad...I know what I want, I've turned away from it enough times in the past and conquered those doubts enough times to know that. But whatever, think what you will....just don't ever call me naive or self-entitled again...that won't fly. And with that I'm done with this debate. Threadstarter I'm sorry for derailing your thread, I understand your dilemma. One of my friends did it last year and it turned out fine and he enjoyed it. He ended up working at the same place I interned at in DC the summer before. He got converted to wanting to do the type of law I want to do LOL.

I thought the self-entitled part kicked in around the "daddys buying junior a Mercedes or a trip across ten foreign countires.. obviously a Mercedes wasn't up to my standards so I took the trip" part...

but this thread is actually useful to a lot of people (including me) who want to take some time off before going.. so I'd like to hear some other stories also

Edit: One of my fears is also that I'll find a full-time job which I don't enjoy, but make enough money to make attending law school financially stupid. Anyone ever had to face the same situation? Many people who have worked 3-7 years that I've seen post here seem like they were ready for a change and hadn't considered LS until later in life after undergrad.

Last edited by BlueDiamond on Sun Dec 19, 2010 2:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.